Last week Governor Christie explained where he thinks federal tax policy should go. He wants a tax reform that reduces the number of tax brackets to three, with the bottom rate in the single digits (it’s now 10) and the top rate no higher than 28. He would eliminate various tax breaks so that the tax code raised the same amount of revenue, but keep the mortgage deduction for first homes and the charitable deduction. He would cut the corporate tax rate to 25. And he would eliminate the payroll tax for people younger than 21. (He had previously said that he would also eliminate it for people older than 62.)

The plan is similar though not identical to the plan on which Mitt Romney campaigned in 2012. It has the same top income-tax rate, the same promise to lower the bottom rate to single digits, the same corporate tax rate, and the same unspecified reduction of tax breaks to achieve revenue neutrality. The differences: Christie would have fewer tax brackets, would cut payroll taxes for the young and the old, would allow businesses to write off the expense of investments immediately, and does not plan to end the AMT or estate tax or cut taxes on capital gains and dividends.